


A familiar ghost from my past

by Raindropsonmyeyelashes



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Emotional, F/M, Future, Gen, M/M, Peggy is sick, Sad, Steve doesn't know Bucky is alive, bring your tissues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 06:20:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11053092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raindropsonmyeyelashes/pseuds/Raindropsonmyeyelashes
Summary: "He had blue eyes. Old eyes that have seen many things."Peggy tells Steve about a familiar face who came to see her. He doesn't believe her...at first.





	A familiar ghost from my past

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy!

"A young man came to see me yesterday." Peggy said that morning, as soon as Steve walked through the door to her room. Her voice was thick and raspy from coughing throughout the night, but her English accent was just as charming to Steve as it was when they first met in 1945. Steve opened the thick blinds covering the window and smiled down at the garden below. Peggy often did this; her disease sometimes made it hard for her to tell the difference between dreams and reality, or most commonly, past and present.

"Oh yeah? What did he look like?" Steve replied, although he was already anticipating her answer. He sat down on the chair next to her bed, and took her hand when she reached out to him. When he looked down at where their fingers were entwined, he looked away quickly as though viewing something he shouldn't; seeing Peggy's old skin amongst his, which hadn't aged since the television was invented, hurt his head.

"He had blue eyes" she said, gazing into the distance as though recalling an ancient memory. Well, Steve supposed, she probably was. His smile broadened at her words, and he hummed quietly to prompt her to continue.

"Old eyes, eyes that had seen many things. But, unlike me, he hadn't grown old to match. It was only the weight of what he's seen that aged him, I could see it in those eyes." Steve took a deep breath; this wasn't how these talks usually went but he was both too intrigued and too polite to interrupt. He'd figured out that trying to correct her would only make her angry.

"He looked different, but I could still tell it was him. His hair was the same colour, just longer and he had a beard. He never had a beard before, but I could tell that it wasn't done for fashion. It was unruly like he'd simply forgotten to cut it." Steve shivered, it was clear that this...well whatever it was, a dream, a memory...wasn't about him this time.

"What did he do?" Steve said, much more forcefully than he intended to, when Peggy's eyes started to droop. He winced, something about this was making his bones rattle, but she wasn't deterred.

"He just stood there for a while, looking at me, like he was trying to figure something out. I think he recognised me, but he was trying to determine who I was that meant he was here. Do you understand?" Peggy suddenly looked over at Steve then, and he was surprised at the seriousness in her eyes. She was clearly trying to tell him something, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what. He wasn't even sure whether she was speaking any sense at all.

"Yes." Steve said finally, when her gaze didn't waver under his discomfort, and she looked at him for a little while longer before turning away, as if somehow sensing that he was lying.

"He came over and sat in that chair," Peggy pointed to the exact spot where Steve was sitting, and if the solider didn't think he could get any more uncomfortable he was wrong. It felt like a hundred tiny ants were crawling all over his body, making his hair stand on end. "And he held my hand. We didn't talk. Then he was gone in a flash of silver."

Steve walked back over to the window he didn't remember opening and shut it forcefully, hoping to quell the cool air that was making him shiver. It didn't help. "It was probably just a-"

"-ghost." Peggy finished. Steve was going to say 'dream', whether that be for his own comfort or hers, he didn't know. She looked into his eyes. "The realist ghost I've ever seen."

When she reached out to grab his hand, her strength surprising him not for the first time, the harsh metal chain that touched his skin after she withdrew it re-enlightened the sparks travelling through his whole body. He kept his hand closed, but looked up at his best girl for answers. She was sound asleep.

Steve kept his fist clenched tightly, for he didn't need to look to know what it was. And he didn't need to see the name engraved into it to know who it belongs to.


End file.
